HORTSCIENCE 26(1):69-70. 1991. H. italicum grown for essential oil in Europe are of the same chemotype as the curry plant Volatile Compounds of the Curry that is used horticulturally in this country is unknown. While the aroma of the curry plant is rem- Plant iniscent of the aroma of a mild curry powder, l neryl acetate has a rose-like odor, rather than Denys J. Charles and James E. Simon a spicy curry odor. Curry is a powdered mix- Department of Horticulture, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907 ture of spices, composed of two to 20 spices, Additional index words. essential oils, Helichrysum italicum, H. angustifolium, herbs, with the number and relative proportions of spices each dependent upon the desired flavor and aroma. The most common ingredients in- Abstract. The curry plant [Helichrysum italicum (Roth) G. Don in Loudon ssp. itali- clude: cumin, ginger, coriander, cinnamon, cum or H. angustifolium (Lam.) DC (Asteraceae)], a popular ornamental herb with a tumeric, red pepper, fenugreek, allspice, black curry-like aroma, was chemically evaluated to identify the essential oil constituents pepper, cardamom, cloves, mustard, and responsible for its aroma. Leaves and flowers from greenhouse-grown plants were nutmeg (Heath, 1981). The objective of this harvested at full bloom. Essential oils were extracted from the dried leaves via hy- study was to characterize the essential oils drodistillation and the chemical constituents analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) responsible for the characteristic odor of the and GC/mass spectrometry. The essential oil content was 0.67% (v/w). Sixteen com- curry plant. pounds were identified in the oil and included: neryl acetate (51.4%), pinene (17.2%), Four curry seedlings were obtained from eudesmol (6.9%), geranyl propionate (3.8%),ß-eudesmol (1.8%), limonene (1.7%), Companion Plants (Athens,Ohio) and trans- and camphene (1.6%). While the aroma of the curry plant is similar to that of a mild planted into individual 7.2-liter standard curry powder, the volatile chemical profile of the curry plant does not resemble that plastic pots. The soil mix was 1 sterilized reported for commercial curry mixtures. topsoil :1 peat moss :1 perlite (by volume) supplemented daily with a fertilizer solution The curry plant (Helichrysum italicum or tops had been distilled for the extraction of containing 200 ppm N, 200 ppm K, and ad- H. angustifolium) (Tucker, 1986), native to -essential oils. This oil was known as heli- justed to pH 6.0 with phosphoric acid. Plants the Mediterranean region, is a perennial or- chrysum oil in Dalmatia and was marketed were grown under greenhouse conditions (day namental plant with yellow flower bracts and for it’s high concentration of neryl acetate maximum, 27C; night minimum, 18C) from a distinct curry-like odor. Also called white- that was used as raw material in the isolation January through April. Supplemental light- leaf everlasting (Liberty Hyde Bailey Hor- of nerol (Guenther, 1952). The essential oil ing was provided by very high-output flu- torium, 1976), the plant is closely related to is also used in the fragrance industry (Peyron orescent tubes that emitted between 110 and the large group of everlasting [H. orientale et al., 1979). Helichrysum oil was not, how- 140 µmol·s-1·m-2, as measured by a LI- (L.) Gaertn. and Hottentot tea, H. serpylli- ever, included in a recent compilation of COR LI-1776 quantum meter and LI-190SB folium Less.) and grown horticulturally in world-wide essential oils of commerce sensor (LI-COR, Lincoln, Neb.) at the plant herb and rock gardens due to its unique ar- (Lawrence, 1985). Essential oils from other leaf level. Three plants were harvested in- omatic qualities and attractive appearance. species of Helichrysum have also been ob- dividually at full bloom for essential oil The plant, however, is not used for culinary tained and processed with H. italicum for the analysis. Flowering tops and leaves were purposes and is not included in the “gener- commercial product, and some of the essen- manually removed from the plants and oven- ally regarded as safe” (GRAS) listing (FDA, tial oil constituents of helichrysums from dried at 30C as described by Charles and 1974). While the plant’s popularity is due, various geographical regions have now been Simon (1990b). A fourth plant was dried and in part, to the presence of volatile essential reported (Peyron et al., 1979; Weyerstahl et deposited in the Herbarium of the Field Mu- oils that are primarily responsible for the al., 1986). The aroma of the essential oil has seum of Natural History, Chicago. plant’s odor, the actual chemical constituents been described as reminiscent of rose and Distillation and analysis. Dried leaves (75 that comprise the essential oil “remain poorly chamomile (Guenther, 1952). Manitto et al. g) were placed into 2-liter round-bottomed understood. (1972) reported that two minor ß-diketones, boiling flasks with 1 liter of distilled-deion- Much of the early analysis on the essential including 2,4-dimethylheptane-3,5-dione, ized water, and the essential oil was ex- oil of H. italicum was conducted in the early were responsible for an unpleasant odor of tracted by hydrodistillation (1 h 15 rein) via 1900s, before the use of sophisticated ana- the stems of H. italicum. Whether plants of a modified Clevenger trap (Charles and Si- lytical techniques; the major constituent was found to include neryl acetate, with nerol and pinene reported as additional constit- uents (Guenther, 1952). Guenther (1952) re- ported that wild-growing H. italicum had been collected in the Dalmatian region of southern Europe and that the leaves plus flowering Received for publication 7 Mar. 1990. Journal Pa- per no. 12,416, Purdue Univ. Agr. Expt. Sta., West Lafayette, IN 47907. This work was sup- ported in part by a grant from the Purdue Univ. Agr. Expt. Sta. (Specialty Crops Grant no. 014- 1165-0000-65178). We express our appreciation to Peter Bwchard for providing the curry plants used in this study, the assistance of Renee Murray for botanical verification, and Karl Wood, Dept. of Chemistry and Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, who assisted us in the GC/MS analysis. The cost of publishing this paper was defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. Under postal regu- lations,thispapertherefore must be hereby marked advertisement solely to indicate this fact. lTo whom reprint requests should be addressed. HORTSCIENCE, VOL. 26(l), JANUARY 1991 69 men, 1990b; ASTA, 1968). The essential oil (1976) reported that the essential oil of H. In: N. Margaris, A. Koedam, and D. Vokou content was determined on a volume : dry- angustifolium was rich in nerol (36.5% to (eds.). Aromatic plants–Basic and applied as- weight basis (percent v/w). The values for 49.6%) and neryl acetate (26.5% to 35.4%), pect. Martinus Nijhoff, Netherlands. essential oil content and composition were in contrast to this study, where nerol was Food and Drug Administration, Department of based on the extraction of essential oil from present in low concentration (0.24%). While Health, Education, and Welfare. 1974. Code of the odor of the curry plant is distinctly sim- federal regulations. Title 21, CFR 180.73. Of- each of the three plants analyzed separately, fice of the Federal Register, U.S. Government and the relative peak area for individual con- ilar to a mild curry powder, the individual Printing Office, Wash., D.C. stituents was averaged. Identification of es-, chemical constituents in the essential oil do Guenther, E. 1952. The essential oils. reprinted sential oil constituents was based on retention not resemble those reported for commercial 1985. Kleger Publishing Co., Malabar, Fla. time and coinjection with authentic com- curry mixtures (Heath, 1981). Head-space 5:467-472. pounds. The relative percentages were analysis (Chialva et al., 1981) may have Heath, H.B. 1981. Source book of flavors. AVI, determined using a Varian 3700 gas chro- captured, if present, additional very light Westport, Conn. matography (Varian, Walnut Creek, Calif.) volatile and aromatic molecules that could Lawrence, B.M. 1985. A review of the world pro- equipped with a flame ionization detector have been lost during hydrodistillation. duction of essential oils (1984). Perfumer & (FID) and an electronic 4270 integrator However, it appears unlikely that the pres- Flavorist 10:1, 3-10, 12-16. ence of such compounds could significantly Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium. 1976. Hortus (Charles and Simon, 1990a; Simon and Third. MacMillan, New York. Quinn, 1988). Pure compounds pinene, contribute such a curry-like aroma. The ma- jor volatile essential oils from plants found Manitto, P., D. Manti, and E. Colombo. 1972. camphene, ß-pinene, myrcene, limonene, Composite: Two new ß-diketones from Heli- linalool, borneol, nerol, neryl acetate, and in curry mixtures are comprised of chemical chrysum italicum. Photochemistry 11:2112- terpineol) and essential oil constituents were constituents that are recovered by steam and 2114. also analyzed by a Finnigan 4000 gas chro- hydrodistillation. While there may be non- Peyron, L., J. Acchiardi, B. Bruni, J.C. Rossi, matograph/mass spectrometer (GC/MS; San volatile essential oils present in the curry plant, and R. Granger. 1979. Composition of Heli- Jose, Calif.) using electron impact and hooked most of the plants overall fragrance can best chrysum essential oils, p. 421-424. In: VII Intl. on-line to a Data General Nova/4 data be attributed to the combination or blend of Congr. Essential Oil, 7-11 Oct. 1977, Kyoto, processing system for compound identifica- distinct aromas from each of the reported 16 Japan. tion as described by Simon and Quinn (1988). constituents. Simon, J.E. and J. Quinn. 1988. Characterization Sixteen compounds (including all com- of essential oil of parsley.